I had just typed up a nice long post, and was putting the final touches to it, when LJ ate it! Unfortunately, Restore from Draft only put back my mood, which I ought to now change to 'irked in the extreme', as the good ship 'Cheerful' has definitely sailed. Bad LJ!

In a nutshell, then: my contract with my current employers got extended till the end of the year, which in real terms means my future is still somewhat uncertain. Which puts me in a quandary: I like my job, and would like to progress in it, but maybe I should keep my options open and stop saying a polite no to all the agencies and headhunters that have suddenly been able to find their way to my LinkedIn profile with all these wonderful opportunities they want to discuss with me. Strike the iron while it's hot, so to speak, as I'm sure they'll all disappear into the woodwork again the minute Yuletide comes around and -God forbid- the company decides to let me go.

I've decided that from now on, I'll forego the 'pleasure' of spending King's Day in Amsterdam; I'm simply getting too old and too cranky to see the appeal in a day spent jostling and being jostled by the crowds, tripping over full and empty beer cans, tons of litter, drunken students and after queueing for half an hour in McD's, discovering that a trip to the ladies' will suddenly set you back a staggering €2. Home of the Whopper, indeed.

I've yet to make any definite plans, but I am tentatively looking into holiday destinations. I really, really want to go to Iceland, Greenland, or possibly both; but the problem is that I can't find anyone willing to come with, and I've got a sneaking suspicion that for Greenland certainly, a travelling companion is a must have (preferably one that knows their way around a snow scooter and\or a dog sled). As things stand, it looks like I might have to satisfy myself with a city trip to Istanbul later on in the year. One of my friends has never been, and it's been 25 years since my last visit, so...